Hello Marbletown Families!

As many of you know Marbletown Elementary School has a very

active and supportive Parent Teacher Friends (PTF) organization. This

year the board members are: Teresa Carlucci - President, Barbara Jordan

- Vice President, Claudia Davenport - Secretary and Joe Bartolone -

Treasurer.

I want to graciously thank Mrs. Sindt who planted the mums along the

walkway to the flag pole. In addition, I would like to thank Mrs. Linder,

Mrs. Carlucci, Mrs. Koch and Mrs. Fornino, Mrs. Yark, Mrs. Bober, and

Mrs. Cutia for taking their day to assist us with school pictures.

We look forward to seeing you for parent conferences which will be

held on the evening of Thursday, October 20th and during the afternoon

on Friday, October 21st.

Sincerely,

Mr. Cafiero

Letter from the Principal Volume 1, Issue 2

Marbletown

Elementary School

October 15, 2011

MES

NEWS

Letter from the

Principal

1

Library Corner 2

MES Reminders 3

Calendar of

Events

3

Grade Level

News

4

Star Student

Recognition

5

Educational

Apps

5

A Note from

the Nurse

6-7

Tribes 8

Inside this

Issue:

Did you know?

Six of the seven continents can grow pumpkins—including Alaska!

The only continent you won’t find them on is Antarctica.

A pumpkin is really a squash! It's a member of the Cucurbita family

which includes squash and cucumbers.

The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds!

Marbletown Page 2

Magic, dragons, wizards, and fairies! Here are a few books that celebrate fantastic fantasy!

The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie DePaola. What happens when a

sheepish knight and a not-so-fierce dragon fight for the very first time?

Well, it's no ordinary battle since the knight has to go to the castle

library to learn about dragon-fighting and the dragon must dig through

his ancestor's things to find out how to fight a knight! Spontaneity of

line and feeling are backed by zesty colors and a jovial, tongue-in-

cheek tone to which children can relate. --Booklist (Ages 4-8)

Dragon Slayers’ Academy (series) by Kate McMullan. A fantasy

adventure for beginning chapter-book readers. Wiglaf, the would-be

hero, lives with his large, brutish family in abject poverty. Their hovel

smells worse than their pigsty. Though Wiglaf is the smallest member

of the family, he is made to do all the work, and is constantly picked

on by the others because he is reluctant to kill any living thing. The

boy decides to sign up at the local Dragon Slayers' Academy as it

guarantees to make him a hero. However, he finds life at the

run-down school as difficult as it is at home, and he protests when he

is sent out to slay the local dragon on his first day. When his magic

sword doesn't work, he switches to another strategy. He has learned

that the dragon can't stand bad jokes so he tries a few and, as predicted, the dragon expires

at his feet. Wiglaf is a hero without spilling a single drop of blood. (Ages 7-10)—School

Library Journal

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke. Princess Igraine dreams of

becoming a famous knight just like her great grandfather, but the truth

is, life at the family castle is rather boring. Until the nephew of the

baroness-next-door shows up. He's got a dastardly plan to capture the

castle and claim as his own the wonderful singing spell books that

belong to Igraine's magician parents. To make matters worse, at the

very moment of the siege, her mom and dad botch a spell, turning

themselves into pigs! Aided by a Gentle Giant and a Sorrowful Knight,

it's up to Igraine to be brave and save the day--and the books!

(Ages 8 to 12)—Amazon

Library Corner

Halloween Parade

Come out and enjoy "Heritage Day" at your very own school, Marbletown Elementary. It

will be on October 29th from 10-3. Admission is by donation and there will be inexpensive

crafts for your child to do. So...please mark your calendar, come, and enjoy!

Calendar of Events Below is a list of upcoming events here at M.E.S for October and November.

Thursday, October 20th Parent Conferences 4:00-7:00

Friday, October 21st 1/2 day for Students & Parent Conferences 1:00-3:30

Saturday, October 29th Heritage Day 10:00-3:00

Monday, October 31st Halloween Parade

Thursday, November 3rd Picture Re-Takes

Friday, November 4th 3rd Grade Dance Performance 2:00

Friday, November 11th School Closed—Veterans Day

Volume 1, Issue 2 Marbletown

Once again MES will be taken over by vampires, ninjas, fairies, and more

on Monday, October 31st! Students will display their Halloween costumes

during a parade around the school building at 2:30. Parents are welcome to view the parade

outside in front of the school. For safety, we are asking that costumes do not include masks

or play weapons.

Students will return to their classrooms after the parade and may be signed out by parents in

the classroom. To make room for the buses, we ask that all parent vehicles be cleared from

Heritage Day

Science Night at Rondout Middle School

MES Reminders

Come enjoy a night of scientific fun! Students in grades 3-6 and their parents are invited to

join SUNY New Paltz graduate students to take part in various scientific demonstrations and

interactive events. It promises to be an electrifying evening during which you’ll no doubt be

wondering, “Wait...what just happened?” Come check it out on Monday, October 24th from

5:30-7:30pm at the Rondout Valley Middle School. Refreshments will be available for sale

courtesy of the RV Booster Club.

Kindergarten: The Kindergarten Classes have been busy learning School rules and routines. We are

also learning to be respectful and kind to each other. We are beginning a unit on apples and Johnny

Appleseed. In math we are learning about attributes and patterns. We are very excited about being in a

big school! Thank you to everyone for getting their child ready for this very magical journey!

Kindergarten/First Grade: Mrs. LaGoy’s K/1 multi-age class is busy learning, reading, writing,

adding, counting, building, creating, painting and making new friends! The children have been

working on a class book in which they each are sharing a poster about themselves. Each day, one of

the children is the star of the day! This book will go home and the children can introduce their

families to their new classmates. The children continue to learning and help each other as we become

one big happy family! We are off to a great start!

First Grade: Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Sweeney's classes tended to the garden. Our school custodian,

Mr. Kenny taught how to plant garlic. Next Spring, we will use the garlic that we planted to make

something that tastes really yummy. While in the garden we wrote down what we saw, heard, tasted,

smelled and felt. When we got back to our classrooms we wrote our very own sense book. We all had

fun working together and learning. Mrs. Loughlin’s class has been very busy working on many

October activities including fire safety, Columbus Day, and of course Halloween!

Second Grade: Mrs. Ajemian's second grade class just finished reading the "Arthur" series written

and illustrated by Marc Brown. The students did many activities and comprehension sheets around

these stories. They also did an "at-home project" relating to one of his books. They were excellent

and are displayed in the hallway for all to view. They finished this unit by making edible termites out

of grapes and carrots. Termites ARE Arthur's favorite food. Don't forget he is an aardvark. Now the

students are off learning about urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Third Grade: The 3rd grade classes began their tour to different countries recently, via the Vanaver

Dance Residency. The countries being studied this year are Brazil (Mrs. Brown's Class), Italy (Mr.

Giordano's Class) and Mexico (Mrs. Bullock's Class). This four week period, includes immersion

in learning about the country through dance and song, as well as a variety of classroom activities. Not

only is it lots of fun, but what a memorable way it is to meet the curriculum standards in this area (as

proven by the classes in the past)! Our dress rehearsal will be for the classes at our school, during the

morning of Nov. 4th. The Grand Performance will also be on Nov. 4th, at 2 PM. The afternoon

performance will be for parents, friends and relatives. We look forward to performing for all of you!

We greatly appreciate the PTF for funding this program which, due to financial constraints, had been

cut from the district budget.

Fourth Grade: Mr. Slater and Mrs. Silverman’s classes are studying insects and are working on

poster projects to demonstrate what they’ve learned. In writing, all fourth graders are working on their

Personal Narratives. Mr. Slater’s class has also discussed different point of views regarding the

history of Christopher Columbus.

Marbletown Page 4

Grade Level News

Here are a few fun apps that you may want to try! All are available for download in iTunes.

Educational Apps

Stack the States makes learning about

the 50 states fun! Watch the states

actually come to life in this colorful and

dynamic game! As you learn state

capitals, shapes, geographic locations

and more, you can actually touch, move

and drop the animated states anywhere

on the screen. Carefully build a stack of

states that reaches the checkered line to

win each level. ($.99)

iWriteWords teaches your child how to write

numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and

ultimately, entire words, via tracing exercises

and games. Parents can even play back their

child’s own handwriting to monitor progress

and share with their little one. The app is also

available in Spanish. ($2.99)

Math Girl Addition House will help

players move from counting on figures

to visualizing how many. Players move

from 1+1 to 99+9 by exploring group-

ings of flowers. If you have MathGirl

Number Garden, you can sync and view

your garden and house together. ($1.99)

Star Student Recognition! The following students have been recognized for their positive behavior!

Ethan LaSilvia is a great listener, very respectful, and is always prepared

for reading & writing workshop time! Way to go, Ethan!

Clara Muck Dietrich is respectful, a great listener, and very helpful! She is

excited to help her classmates and make new friends! Great job, Clara!

Amelia Dunphy shares well with her classmates, is respectful, helpful, and a great listener!

She is also very excited to learn new things every day! Hurray, Amelia!

Sophie Cagan is a fantastic helper! She is generous and quick to give a classmate a helping

hand whenever needed! Keep up the good work, Sophie!

Ellis Picuri is helpful, kind, and a great listener! He is respectful, shares well with his

classmates, and loves to learn! Yay, Ellis!

Noelle Crandell is a good listener! She is paying attention in class and learning lots of new

things! Keep it up, Noelle!

BrainPOP’s upgraded app will continue to

deliver a fresh (and free!) Featured Movie

and related quiz every day. But you’ll also

have the option of adding one of two

subscriptions for additional learning.

“Explorer Level” complements the free

Featured Movie with four additional

related movies and quizzes each day

($1.99/month). “Full Access Level” gives

you unlimited access to all 750+ Brain-

POP movies and quizzes ($6.99/month).

Volume 1, Issue 2 Page 6

A Note from the Nurse

CDC Says “Take 3” Actions To Fight The Flu

Flu is a serious contagious disease that can lead to

hospitalization and even death.

CDC urges you to take the following actions to protect

yourself and others from influenza (the flu):

1. Take time to get a flu vaccine.

CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting

against flu viruses.

While there are many different flu viruses, the flu vaccine protects against the three

viruses that research suggests will be most common.

The 2011-2012 vaccine will protect against an influenza A H3N2 virus, an influenza B

virus and the H1N1 virus that emerged in 2009 to cause a pandemic.

Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine as soon as the 2011-2012

vaccines are available.

Vaccination of high risk persons is especially important to decrease their risk of severe

flu illness.

People at high risk of serious flu complications include young children, pregnant women,

people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease and

people 65 years and older.

Vaccination also is important for health care workers, and other people who live with or

care for high risk people to keep from spreading flu to high risk people.

Children younger than 6 months are at high risk of serious flu illness, but are too young

to be vaccinated. People who care for them should be vaccinated instead.

2. Take everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of germs.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in

the trash after you use it.

Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an

alcohol-based hand rub.

A Note From Our Nurse continued…

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

If you are sick with flu–like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24

hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fe-

ver should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)

While sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.

3. Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.

If you get the flu, antiviral drugs can treat your illness.

Antiviral drugs are different from antibiotics. They are prescription medicines (pills, liquid

or an inhaled powder) and are not available over-the-counter.

Antiviral drugs can make illness milder and shorten the time you are sick. They may also

prevent serious flu complications.

It’s very important that antiviral drugs be used early (within the first 2 days of symptoms)

to treat people who are very sick (such as those who are hospitalized) or people who are

sick with flu symptoms and who are at increased risk of severe flu illness, such as pregnant

women, young children, people 65 and older and people with certain chronic health condi-

tions.

Flu-like symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches,

headache, chills and fatigue. Some people also may have vomiting and diarrhea. People

may be infected with the flu, and have respiratory symptoms without a fever.

For more information, visit CDC’s website to find out what to do if you get sick with the

flu and how to care for someone at home who is sick with the flu: http://www.cdc.gov .

Tribes

Volume 1, Issue 2 Page 8

Our monthly focus is on Friendship:

To Have a Friend, Be a Friend

Sometimes it’s hard for young children to understand what friendship and having a friend

means. How does one have a friend and how does one keep a friend? Often they

“order” others to be their friend and if the child says no or won’t play with them, their anger

rises and there can be mean words or aggression. Friendship skills are learned from

watching those around them at home and at school. Friendship skills also need to be taught.

No one wants to be left out and friends affect our lives and can make a difference.

One of the bigger issues in this age group are those children who won’t let their friend

play with anyone else. We try to teach them that there are many ways to solve this problem.

Friends may need to separate, take time out, or get some adult help. Alternatives are to

problem solve together and decide to alternate days. They can also try to include the others

and let them know how it feels to be left out. Outside of school play dates can also help

establish bonds.

You can speak to your child about ways to keep friends such as telling the truth,

accepting friends the way they are, showing kindness and respect, sticking up for your friend

and treating your friends the way you want to be treated.

Always be thankful for your friends!

- From the Counseling office of Ms. Pattison

Phone: 845-687-0284

Fax: 845-687-7691

PO Box 9

Accord, NY 12404

Marbletown

Elementary School